4
Legolas was nowhere to be seen when Aragorn got up the next morning, but Hiram was there cutting up what looked like snails in the kitchen.
"He's out in the field," said the farmer to Aragorn's unspoken question. "Set down yer breakfast is getting cold."
But Aragorn had no appetite that morning. he had had a restless night filled with macabre visions. He ran his fingers along the scar on the left side of his neck. It was thinly bandaged and still hurt when he touched it.
"Leave that alone now," Hiram cautioned seeing him picking at it. "Or you'll undo all my hard work."
Aragorn obediently reined in his finger. "You know a lot about medicine?" he questioned pushing around the still warm porridge with a wooden spoon.
"Aye," said the older man. "Comes from a life time of travels. I picked up a thing or two here and there."
"So you are not of Rohan." Aragorn said boldly.
Hiram gave a short bark of laughter and shook his head. His hands still deftly cutting up the slimy creatures.
"Nope. Came here nigh on eight year ago. Just like you I was on my way to someplace else. Got caught in a terrible thunderstorm, hurt bad, woke up here, took a long, long time to heal. The place grew on me, the old farmer who owned it needed an extra hand and I needed a home. So I just stayed on."
"Like you hope we will." Aragorn said flatly.
Hiram hands stilled in shock and his head went up. His obsidian eyes stared at Aragorn for a heartbeat then dropped as he began slicing once more.
"Now why would you say you say such a thing young un."
"You've three months of work out of my friend for helping us so far." Aragorn accused.
There was silence as Hiram stopped what he was doing and looked at Aragorn again.
"He hasn't told you, has he?" Hiram asked softly.
"Told me what?" Aragorn whispered a small knot of fear gripping his insides.
Hiram smiled sadly.
"Yur friend is dying lad…"
00
Legolas broke off from his labours as he spied Aragorn making his way across the field. He could tell just by the way he held his body that the ranger knew. As Aragorn drew closer the look on his face confirmed it.
"He told you," Legolas said without preamble.
"I will not accept it there must be another way?'
"There is no other way Aragorn." Legolas replied tiredly.
"So you are content to spend your days in this place, tending the field and seeding the ground!"
"It is not such a hardship." Legolas said looking off in the distance.
Aragorn stared at his profile in disbelief. To give in so easily! This was not the Legolas he knew.
"I will find a way." Aragorn declared angrily and abruptly strode off.
00
Aragorn's mind churned as he walked. The conversation he had had with Hiram burning in his mind.
/ "Yur friend is dying lad, dying of the worm."
"You're lying, He is free of pain. He told me you had medicine."
"I do, and he must have it every night to keep the worm aslumber. And every day after I needs must brew more and stronger for the worm is a hardy creature, I know of naught that can kill it outright."
"What are you saying?" Aragorn asked through pale lips.
"That I will do as much as I can for as long as I can, but there will come a day when the medicine will affect it not."/
Out of breath Aragorn dropped to his knees in the midst of a field. What doom had befallen them? He ran his long fingers abstractedly through his unruly hair. 'There must be a way,' he thought, 'there must be.'
00
He did not stop walking until the sky was long dark and the winds strong over the fields. He was past tired, longing only for warmth and food. He turned back only to see that the light in the farmhouse window was a distant glow. Too soon his legs began to tremble with exhaustion. He was appalled at this frailty, but knew that not only the wound he bore but his weeks of terrible confinement had brought him low. He struggled to maintain an even pace. Too far, he had come too far. The light seemed to dip and waver and Aragorn wondered just how weary he was when he realised that the light moved because it was held aloft by one who searched for him.
Armed with a heavy cloak and a lantern Legolas met him half way.
"You foolish man!" the elf exclaimed, wrapping the ranger swiftly in the warm folds of cloth. Laughing a little madly, Aragorn gave himself over to Legolas' ministrations. Legolas felt him tremble beneath the layers of cloth. When the laughter turned to sobs Legolas closed his eyes against the onslaught of his own sadness. He murmured meaningless promises against the dark head. He felt Aragorn go limp as the ranger's body finally gave out.
To have survived weeks of anguish and torture just to be brought low by a humble worm. The irony of it made Legolas want to weep. "You will not die out here mellon nin. I will not allow it."
00
Hiram was waiting when Legolas returned, a shivering Aragorn in his embrace.
"Bring him here," the old farmer motioned to the soft bed in his room. He felt Aragorn's forehead and neck. The ranger was a little too cool, his breathing ragged and loud.
"Take off his cold clothes and wrap him well in the blankets."
Legolas did as he was bid standing aside for Hiram to place the lantern on the bedside table. Hiram probed at Aragorn's neck wound, finding it dry and without inflamation. He sighed, relieved that it had not begun to fester again. He reached for a dark bottle of paste but before he could open it Legolas stayed his hand with an iron grip.
"T'is only an ointment to help him breathe." Hiram said to him.
Still Legolas held on a little longer. "You are sure,"
Nodding Hiram said "Have I not taken care of him whilst you lay senseless. If I wanted to harm him, I could have done so already."
He rubbed the salve evenly over the ranger's heaving chest. The scent of mint, witch hazel and some other thing Legolas could not define wafted into the room. Soon Aragorn was breathing evenly.
"He will sleep well now." Hiram said softly, then tilting his sideways looked up at Legolas, "Isn't it about time for your medicine?"
Legolas did not answer but stared at the farmer, how did he always know when the worm began to move.
00
As the thick, warm liquid slid down into his ear, Legolas gagged as he always did. His grip on the table's edge intensified as it penetrated deeper. The worm as always struggled against the liquid's soporific effect, sending out shrills of distress so piercing that it made Legolas' nose bleed. The fight was over as usual in a matter of minutes but by then the elf was a bundle of jangling nerves and disoriented. Hiram guided him easily to the small cot, an end to the ritual that Legolas hated but could do nothing about, for the liquid did not only affect the worm, but the patient as well.
Hiram caressed the brow of the distressed elf, stroking the pointed tips of his ears gently. It was a liberty he knew the elf would never allow in his normal state. But Legolas was vulnerable, powerless as the liquid ran its course. His hand went up as though in supplication and Hiram took hold of it, fondling the long pale fingers. He was fascinated by this extraordinary being. Tears leaked out the sides of Legolas' eyes and Hiram bent nearer to wipe them away. Soon the elf would sleep leaving him free to indulge his curiosity.
………………………………………